Chandler budget cuts could axe rangers, shorten library hours

Chandler's latest budget cuts could be painful for city employees and residents but pale in comparison to massive layoffs and service reductions looming in neighboring Tempe and Phoenix.

According to a long list of recommendations released this week and set for discussion at a special City Council budget retreat Saturday, the city needs to cut 58 jobs, shorten library and pool hours, eliminate park rangers, end the police DARE program in schools and halt non-essential police and fire programs to avoid a $17 million deficit next fiscal year and beyond. The city also is looking to raise permit and planning fees and merge the planning and public works departments for efficiency.

But unlike other Valley municipalities considering sales tax rate increases and layoffs in the hundreds, Chandler will likely send 39 employees packing, and none would be sworn police officers. The remaining 19 jobs recommended for elimination are vacant. This will be Chandler's first layoffs in more than 20 years.

There also is no plan to raise the city's 1.5 percent sales tax rate said City Manager Mark Pentz. However, the council will have to cut infrastructure maintenance and building projects if they're not willing to raise property tax rates, he said.

Raising the rates would not increase residents' property tax bills because real estate values have fallen steeply. That has caused property tax revenues based on those values to drop below what Chandler needs to repay bond debt, according to budget memos.

Even with the tax rate increase, design and construction of the planned Chandler museum is likely to be put on hold for several years. "That is extremely disheartening," said former mayor Jim Patterson, who is president of the Chandler Historical Society.

The most difficult part for city employees is a policy required in Chandler personnel rules called "bumping." The practice is governed by a seniority system that allows workers to decline a layoff and "bump" someone who has fewer years of service by taking their job, Stapleton said. That person then can "bump" another worker with less seniority.

Holly Granillo, a senior executive assistant for the Fire Department and 11-year Chandler employee whose position is recommended for elimination, said she has had many sleepless nights and is stressed out about the prospect of having to force someone else to lose their job.

Although the memos don't disclose employee names, some high-ranking positions are on the chopping block including the downtown real estate manager, a fire training captain, a landscape architect and two engineers.

If the Police Department's DARE program is cut from 36 elementary schools, Chandler will join a growing number of cities to cut the once popular Drug Awareness Resistance Education. The program came under fire after a 2002 study found no significant differences in illicit drug use between students who took DARE and those who didn't. Mesa, Phoenix and Scottsdale eliminated their DARE programs since the study was made public.

Pentz said his recommendation is to reassign officers from the program to positions that are vacant or that become vacant in coming months.

Park rangers, who are not sworn police officers, will likely lose their jobs if the council follows Pentz' recommendation to eliminate the program.

The rangers patrol parks, respond to patrons' inquiries or complaints and enforce rules to prevent damage, graffiti and vandalism. They act as library security guards, regularly check parking areas of all city buildings and monitor crowds at sporting events

Lloyd Harrell, a member of the Chandler Parks Board and former city manager, said elimination of park rangers will increase the Police Department's work load but is a logical choice during tough economic times. "I know this will be very difficult for the council. But it's not like you eliminate a position and if there's a problem nobody has to respond," he said.

"Anything they do at this point will be reflected in reduced services. We cut all the fluff last year," said Dave McDowell, former assistant community services director whose retirement in December was part of an earlier staff reduction.

Saturday's budget retreat in Western International University conference rooms at 55 N. Arizona Place begins at 8 a.m.